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Asian Theatre Journal 19.2 (2002) iii-iv



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From the Editor

At this moment, as Asian Theatre Journal is about to enter its twentieth year, it seems appropriate to pause and look back on its achievement. After years of unrelenting determination James R.Brandon succeeded in launching ATJ in 1983 under the auspices of the University of Hawai'i Press, which has remained its publisher. Jim (and his later coeditor Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak) turned the editorship over to me in January 1991, and my first issue came out a year later. The present year completes my tenth as editor. During this decade I have benefited from the assistance of several razor-sharp associate editors. Robert Bethune was followed by Diane Daugherty and Susan Pertel Jain. Susan recently moved on to other interests, and Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei joined the team with ATJ 19/1. When I needed a breather, Kathy Foley handled a guest editorship for an issue on Asian puppet theatre (18/1).

Invaluable during all these years has been the consistently significant participation of ATJ's area editors, whose positions on the masthead have remained surprisingly stable. Andrew T. Tsubakiwas the original Japan area editor, and when Andy felt ready to shift gears, Laurence R. Kominz ably replaced him. But Kathy Foley (Southeast Asia), Farley Richmond (South Asia), and Elizabeth Wichmann-Walczak (China) have been with me all along.

The University of Hawai'i Press deserves enormous credit for the high editorial standards of its outstanding production staff. Those with whom I've had the closest working relationship, and who've saved my neck countless times, have been Keith Leber and his successor, Shirley Samuelson. Copyeditor Don Yoder has been a pillar of support and instruction throughout my tenure.

Every promising submission to ATJ has been critiqued by a minimum of two readers (myself and an associate editor), but many get read by three or four (including both associate editors and an area editor). Frequently specialists in a particular area are asked to read a [End Page iii] submission even though their names are not listed on the masthead. To all who have given me their advice and expertise I want to say thank you. You have made ATJ the distinguished publication it continues to be.

The clearest indication of ATJ's remarkable accomplishment is represented by the index to its nineteen volumes, published in this issue and compiled as a labor of love by David V. Mason. The usefulness of Dave's index will be immediately discernible. One can look up entries by a variety of approaches: author, subject, region, play title, reviews. The index certainly points to ATJ 's strengths, but also to its weaknesses insofar as it makes clear what areas could benefit from increased representation.

Perusing this index makes me inordinately proud to be associated with ATJ. I hope you find it helpful both as a record of where we've come from and as a platform from which we can spring into the next decade.

Samuel L. Leiter



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